Rob Schneider: Auditioning for Jenny McCarthy’s job as world’s most famous celebrity antivaccinationist?

I suppose it’s possible that there might be doubt that Rob Schneider has become a complete and total antivaccine wingnut. Possible, but not reasonable. After all, he’s shown his cards and risen to prominence with his attacks on vaccine science made as part of his effort to oppose the passage of California Bill AB 2109, which was finally passed and signed by Governor Jerry Brown, but not without an attempt to water it down by adding a pointless (and probably unconstitutional) set of instructions for implementation in a signing statement. Leading up to this, Schneider had “made a name for himself” by speaking at an anti-AB 2109 rally, comparing the bill’s sponsors to Nazis, and actually trying to make the specious argument that AB 2109 somehow violates the Nuremberg Code.

Yes, Schneider’s already done enough to demonstrate that he is an antiscience know-nothing when it comes to vaccines, but apparently he hasn’t done enough to satisfy himself. What could he do to make it absolutely clear beyond the proverbial shadow of a doubt that he’s gone down the rabbit hole of bad science, bad arguments, and pure misinformation that drives the antivaccine movement? Easy. He can start commenting on AoA:

This is Rob Schneider. Aung San Suu Kyi is the female Nobel Prize Winner from Burma. Recently, she gave some advice for Americans. She said, “America, protect your freedom!” Now Ms. Kyi know a thing or two about freedom. In Burma she had been under house arrest for almost 21 years. She is also the recipient of the highest civilian honor our country has, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

So when Ms. Kyi says America protect your freedom, she is not saying it lightly. From the Patriot Act, where our Gov’t no longer needs a court order to spy on own citizens, to the assassination of Americans abroad without due process, Freedom is under attack.

But by far the most insidious of all Government intrusions is the one happening right now in America by Big Pharma in their collusion with our representatives in Government. Government coercion to force parents to make their children take any invasive medical procedures (vaccination of their children) is something out of an Orwellian nightmare or Nazi Germany. Just remove the word vaccine and replace it with an other medical procedure and you will begin to see how regressive and criminal this is.

Vaccines, unlike any other drug, is a one size fits all nightmare. The Vaccine makers insist ALL VACCINES MUST BE TAKEN BY EVERY ONE IN THE SCHEDULE THAT WE DECIDE! Name one other drug that is given such impunity. Every person is different and their precious immune systems don’t react the same way. 49 doses of 14 different Vaccines before the age of 6 is mandated by Doctor convenience and Big Pharma profits not patient wellness or sound scientific reasoning.

Please look up Dr. Palevsky and hear what a real pediatrician, not blinded by ideology or blind faith, but with the ability to reason and think rationally and for himself has to say!

Gee, Mr. Schneider, you say that as though it were a bad thing! If you don’t think that antivaccinationists view themselves and their children as precious little snowflakes, just take a gander at Schneider’s reference so every person being different and “their precious immune systems don’t react the same way.” They might not react exactly the same way, but they react similarly enough that the type of “individualization” that antivaccinationists demand is not necessary. There are medical contraindications to vaccination, and those are followed. They are contraindications based on science, not the fevered fears of antivaccinationists who use “individualization” as an excuse not to vaccinate.

Mr. Schneider seems to have a penchant for comparing his band of pseudoscience-loving antivaccinationists to freedom fighters. It’s a penchant he shares with all too many, who think themselves to be some sort of brave rebel alliance fighting against a galactic pharma empire led by an unholy alliance of pharma and government. This leads him, of course, to go straight to Godwin, once again comparing vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany.

Because requiring safe and effective vaccines before children can enter school and requiring parents to be given as close to true informed consent as possible about the risks and the benefits of vaccination as well as, even more importantly, the risks of not vaccinating is exactly like the sorts of medical atrocities the Nazis committed.

Checking out Schneider’s activity over the last few months, I can’t help but wonder if he’s auditioning for the job of Jenny McCarthy’s replacement. After all, McCarthy has been mighty quiet lately. Sure, she showed up at the antivaccine quackfest Autism One, as she does every year, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen her in the media promoting the idea that vaccines cause autism. Perhaps she realizes that such nonsense is bad for her career. Schneider doesn’t appear to have much of a career anymore; so he can let his antivaccine freak flag fly high.

Last time Rob Schneider was in town they were running “free ticket” promotions on all local radio stations up to the day of the show. Unable to fill the stand-up room at the Indian casino he must be looking for a new audience. Wonder if they pay any better than the free show attendees.

Last I read about her( last year?), she was promoting an exercise regime wherein you danced/ exercised alongside your comptuter or television following her lead as she ‘instructed’ you so that you might acquire a facsimile of her physical perfection ( cough)

I sometimes wonder, when a celebrity on the down curve like that hops onto a weird ‘n dodgy cause bandwagon just what a dreadful mangle of motivations might be behind it…

Suspicious of me, I know. I guess plenty is probably explained by the fact that being an actor or a comic doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve got the best bullshit filter in the world. That in combination with a (barely, in this case) valuable name and, well, there ya go. You get your failed Baldwins in bed with the born-agains, your Kirk Camerons…

But I still can’t help wondering (aloud in this case) if they figure, what the hell, it may get me back in the spotlight again. And hey, if it just gets me laughed at (and not when I was trying to be funny), I can always see if I can get myself to buy the ‘o poor persecuted but wise me/Galileo Gambit’ thing…

I guess, tho’, with reference to Kirk, he was already screwing his career with this stuff when he actually had one. Which does complicate that conjecture a mite.

Hey, I am going to wade in this tonight. In the meantime if anyone would like to go slap Erwin Alber and CIA (cynthia) Parker around, I would appreciate the help. The stupid is running strong in the comments and they are spamming the pages with cut and paste posts. It’s about a Waldorf School with a painfully low vaccination rate. There is Polio denialism to mock.

She also has posted as CIA Parker and under a variety of sockies… at the Shot of Prevention blog, telling that same story about her child’s vaccine injury (her own diagnosis of vaccine-induced encephalitis). Every time she tells that story…she gets nailed for her b.s. and gets laughed off the blog.

Stick it to CIA Parker with the Boise Weekly claim of vaccine-induced encephalitis. Also provide her with any link to the treatment in an ICU for any encephalitis.

Rob, first off, I’d just like to point out that the vaccine schedule is not “one-size-fits-all”. Second, have you thought about that whole comparing vaccines to other drugs? What other drugs are given to prevent disease? There are plenty for treating diseases (including those caused by bacteria and viruses), but I can’t think of any that prevent diseases, other than vaccines. Maybe statins or something like that, but even those treat a condition so it doesn’t lead to CV disease.

Intramuscular vitamin K to prevent hemorrhagic disease of the newborn and ophthalmic erythromycin to prevent gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum are the only ones that come to my mind. Of course there are folks who oppose that too, but they would be considered things that “MUST BE TAKEN BY EVERY ONE IN THE SCHEDULE THAT WE DECIDE!” as Mr. Schneider so eloquently put it.

Kelly Bray @ 12.46pm: thanks for the heads-up. I have been there & poked EA with a sharp stick a couple of times, but I doubt it will actually have any effect. His mind is completely cemented shut.

One commenter seemed surprised that over-50s are the most ‘upset’ over the issue. I pointed out that perhaps it’s because we are old enough to remember people who suffered serious, long-lasting side-effects from things like polio. Will be interesting to see if she responds…

EA is familiar. FWIW – his (apparently) sincere responses on being asked if he believes that vaccines contain mind-control devices – something I read him express on his Facebook page and that he confirmed in response to a direct question at sciblogs – has me thinking his opposition to vaccines may lie outside of concerns about vaccines per se. (I’ll let readers draw their own conclusions.)

You could ask him that over there, perhaps? (That page isn’t loading for me – server overloaded?)

With all due respect, the entire premise behind this post is idiotic and insulting.

I mean seriously… “celebrity”? That is like trying to call Kim Kardashian an “actress”.

Rob Schneider is not a celebrity… or at least not worthy of the title. He is also not a comedian. As Daniel Tosh so eloquently stated he isn’t actual a comedian, but rather he is simply Adam Sandler’s friend.